It’s been an uphill battle for a Maritime ski hill this winter, with more than one challenge to overcome.
Earlier this month, a fire ripped through the Poley Mountain lodge. Fire crews battled the blaze for three hours, but the building that housed thepopular resort’s offices, rental shop, restaurant, and store was destroyed.
The popular ski hill, located near Sussex, N.B. was supposed to open for the season on Dec. 19. However, the fire, in combination with the mild temperatures, has meant a delayed start to the season.
“We're just getting the machines ready here now, once the ground stiffens up a little more we'll be hitting the slopes,” says Poley Mountain general manager Bill Anderson.
Aside from a few man made mounds of snow, there is more green than white at Poley Mountain, but all that could change overnight. With temperatures falling, there is hope skiers may soon be able to hit the slopes.
Gary Seeley is operations manager at Poley Mountain. He says low temperatures in November allowed them to make snow ahead of time and with temperatures forecasted to remain below freezing, they'll be able to make more.
“Plan here at Poley for the next couple days is, the temperatures are starting to get a little cooler, we have crews out right now prepping our hill, getting set up and when we get to those minus temperatures tonight, we'll fire up and get this hill white again,” says Seeley.
The situation is the same for many hills around the Maritimes.
Nova Scotia’s Ski Martock has a few runs open, while Crabbe Mountain, near Fredericton, looks similar to Poley with patches of grass on the hills.
“It's all over Atlantic Canada,” says Anderson. “Nobody's got any nature snow and that's fine, I mean that's why we all got great snow making systems and that's why we invest every year in snow making.”
Staff at Poley Mountain will be working around the clock over the next couple of days to get the man-made snow spread on the hill and they hope to be open on Wednesday.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Ashley Blackford.
